Pasqua said the US "wants to prove that the positions taken by France before the war were dictated by economic interests."
But he said that people who made such claims were out of touch with French politics. Pasqua broke with Chirac in 1998 and has since had little influence at Elysee Palace.
In a statement issued by his spokesman in London, Galloway also criticized the Senate panel for not having interviewed him before it accused him of receiving rights to buy up to 20 million barrels of oil.
"I repeat once more, I have never traded or benefited from any oil deals with Iraq," he said.
Following Galloway's initial, vehement denials of the Senate panel's charges, a spokesman for the committee said its chairman, Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, had invited Galloway to appear at a hearing on May 17.
On Thursday, Galloway said in the statement relayed by his spokesman, Ron Mckay: "I'll be there to give them both barrels -- verbal guns, of course, not oil -- assuming we get the visas. I welcome the opportunity to clear my name. My first words will be `Senator, it's a pity that we are having this interview after you have found me guilty. Even in Kafka there was the semblance of a trial."'
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